Meet the Mastercard CEO Force for Good winners for the second half of 2024

When a Copenhagen NGO needed help reaching homeless people about its free hot meals, Jakob Skov led university IT students to create a mobile app. In Pune, Amit Mali founded a school for children with special needs and connected with an NGO to fund and run it. In Caracas, Ernesto Lares began a school-based meal program for kids in extreme poverty 8 years ago that’s still going strong.  

These Mastercard employees — and many others — saw critical needs in their communities and stepped up to create solutions, and we’re pleased to recognize their efforts with the company’s premier volunteering recognition, the CEO Force for Good Awards, for the second half of 2024.

From a Lisbon team that delivered an entrepreneurship program for students ages 7–12 to the Bogota employees who devote Saturday mornings to helping fifth graders with math skills and social-emotional learning to a Nebraska employee who sits with hospice patients as a No One Dies Alone volunteer, here are their stories.

Yenny Lopez, Brisbane, Australia

It takes intention to create a sense of community among colleagues. Lopez demonstrates how to bring an office together — and benefit people and planet too — through her dedication to volunteering. Over the past year, she has rallied her associates to participate in mental health, PRIDE and AIDS awareness events. She recently organized a team-building activity for a Port of Brisbane initiative that engages volunteers to collect and clean discarded oyster shells for restoring shellfish reefs. Her deep commitment to giving back goes beyond company activities, explains colleague and nominator, Michelle Ellis. Lopez helps out two local nonprofits, Millen Farm and FareShare Australia, with programs that provide fresh produce and nourishing meals, respectively, to people in need. She also traveled this year as a volunteer with Believe Global Fiji to teach leadership skills to schoolchildren. “Our team is very multicultural and Yenny promotes inclusion at every opportunity,” Ellis says. “Her enthusiasm for volunteering and including others in great initiatives truly makes her a Force for Good.”

Amit Mali, Pune, India

As a parent, Mali is committed to providing the best education for his child with ADHD and mild autism. As a volunteer, he is doing the same for other children with conditions that create learning challenges. He is founder of the Aarambh Public School for students with special needs, located in Lohegaon, Pune, currently serving 21 children ages 4 to 16. Set up three years ago under a charitable trust with Chetana Foundation, an NGO, the school is funded and run by the trust. Mali provides the spirit and vision. “My goal is to inspire students with intellectual and developmental conditions,” he says, which include children with learning disabilities, developmental delays and Down syndrome. “We want to guide them in academics and in their passions, fostering their independence within the broader community and ultimately empowering them to integrate into the mainstream of society.” His mission is surely meaningful work toward creating a more socially expansive world.  

Abhijit Dosi, Janhvi Khante, Namita Madhya, Priyanka Malwadkar, Priyanka Taparia, Romil Jain, Sagar Deokar and Sandeep Jadhav, Pune, India

Career counseling can make a crucial difference for young people, who typically lack awareness of many careers and key steps to take before graduation. In India, a significant number of students that drop out of school have not received adequate counseling, explains Jain, team nominator and architect of the Mastercard Udaan Initiative, organized in 2022 to address this critical gap in career counseling. The initiative began with events in a variety of schools focused on providing assistance to underprivileged students. Now, two years later, the program has expanded, with the Pune team of volunteers engaging over 150 students in career awareness counseling — providing knowledge and insights on various careers, emphasizing making informed choices and guiding students in how to pursue their desired paths. By opening up future possibilities to kids who imagined few options, the initiative empowers more youth — and, in turn, helps drive collective progress and strengthen the community for long-term success. With plans to continue adding more students, the team “aligns with the company mission of impactful, purposeful contributions,” says Jain, by fostering lasting, positive change.

Baris Ercan, Istanbul, Türkiye

Down Café in Istanbul is proudly run and supported by young people with Down syndrome and their families to create an environment of social inclusion and empowerment. It’s a win-win operation that provides income, skilled employment and professional engagement with the community for those working in the cafe. The win is also for customers who enjoy the cafe’s menu and service and can gain deeper and clearer understanding of Down syndrome in the process. What’s required is frequenting the café — and that’s where Ercan is pivotal in the Istanbul office. As a member of the office’s community support team, he planned an office lunch at the cafe to mark Türkiye’s annual Down syndrome awareness observation in March. “Baris demonstrated our company ‘do the right thing’ values by arranging the event and leading our team members there,” says Lara Dinc, his colleague and nominator. The opportunities for continued growth — of the café’s bottom line and meaningful understanding — are ongoing, thanks to him, Dinc reports. As part of his personal volunteering, he’s organizing repeat visits every two months.

Kuntay Simbatova, Dubai, U.A.E.

If Simbatova’s name seems familiar among Force for Good Award winners, there’s a reason three times over. For the third year in a row, she is recognized for her volunteer commitment to bring clean water to a community in Africa. In 2022, she led a project in Rwanda; in 2023, in Uganda. This year, she and her family, along with 10 other Dubai families — a force that included 22 children — brought their considerable energy to Mozambique. In partnership with Blue Forest and Zalala Foundation, her friends-and-family team built a water station for 6,000 residents on the island of Ihla Idugo situated at the mouth of the Namacurra River in the central province of Zambezia. The water work required constructing a water borehole and a tower to hold a 10,000-liter tank, along with assembling a solar-powered pump. For this Mozambique community, she also organized another volunteer project — planting mangrove trees along the low-lying coastline. Islanders have experienced a “critical ecosystem destruction firsthand with storm surges, mangrove degradation, hardly any fish left in the river,” she reports. “It’s sadly real and a reflection of a climate crisis impact” — one she tackled with the power of a relentless volunteer.

Rada Ali, Kenzy El Genidy, Hana Al Amawy, Hala Soliman, Mariam El Garf, Mariam El Maghraby,  Zeyad El Shayeb, Salma Esmat, Nour Hafez, Nathalie Kamel, Salma Keshk, Mohamed Mady, Ramy Raafat, Salma Morsy, Nada Selim, Shady Thabet, Deena Samir and Malak Moussa, Cairo, Egypt

If there were an award for sheer enthusiasm for a giving event, a major contender would be the Cairo office. As it is, this Cairo team, led by Ali, clearly received their colleagues’ endorsement for the team’s support of the 2024 Lebs Saeed event, an annual Mastercard tradition in Cairo. This initiative captured the “grow together” spirit of the volunteers, who organized activities in collaboration with Mashroo Kheir, a student union club. Held at the end of Ramadan and just before Eid, the event treated 540 underprivileged children from across Egypt to a day of fun featuring face painting and a clown show, with the highlight for each child getting to select new clothing for Eid. Team members accompanied the children as they shopped from racks of options. Wearing new clothing is a significant part of the traditions of Eid for Muslims, with new outfits symbolizing the joy of the celebration — and for the Cairo team and colleagues, a celebration of volunteering too.

Reema Al Shammasi, Maria Medvedeva, Sahar Hallak, Milo Abou Jaoude, Mohammed Taqi, Nawaf Almadani, Rida Albahhar, Lujain Alkhayyat, Amna Malik, Abdullah Al Marhoon, Salam Kabbani, Mohammed Minhaj, Bilal Diab, Syed Ali, Ayman Kafi, Abdulrahman Alyami, Salman Alfayez, Nourah Almazroa, Bader Almutairi, Omar Binshakir and Adam Jones, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Partnering with the Saudi Food Bank during the holy month of Ramadan has been a Saudi office initiative for three consecutive years. This year, Riyadh colleagues went “the extra mile,” reports Al Shammasi, team nominator. All office employees helped out the Saudi Food Bank to pack more meals and distribute them to more people in need during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and worship. Food boxes included essentials such as bread, milk, wheat and rice, as well as the Ramadan special juice drink, offered as “a ‘priceless’ surprise to draw a smile on families’ faces,” Al Shammasi says. Along with providing assistance with their charitable contributions, team members also benefited from a sense of belonging through giving. The initiative drove inclusion as Muslims, Christians, Hindus and others participated together to support Muslim families during their holy month. Company employees shared their pride in the volunteer effort on LinkedIn and other social media platforms, emphasizing to the wider community — including cardholders, issuers and merchants — the values that animate our colleagues to be a Force for Good.

Jakob Skov, Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen’s Junkfood is the very opposite of what the name implies. This nonprofit delivers nutritious food to the homeless and works to reduce food waste by using surplus groceries in meal preparation. Despite those important aims, among Junkfood’s challenges is actually reaching the people it wants to serve. That’s where Skov comes in, with his “passion to make a difference for people on the street,” explains colleague and nominator Mandy Ingrid Wirth. Skov, a senior software engineer, donated his skills and expertise to guiding second-year students from the city’s IT University in a project to develop a mobile app for Junkfood. The app displays the menu of the day, shelters where the hot meal is available and other key information. Given homeless people in Denmark must have mobile phones to show their personal digital ID and communicate with authorities, the app is a natural way to connect with them. “Jakob spent far more than company volunteer days on the project,” Wirth says. His leadership also gave students lessons in cutting-edge technologies—and “put Mastercard in focus as a potential future employer of choice,” she adds.

Ella Vishnevsky, Israel

There are as many as 130,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel today. Vishnevsky is an inspiring example of the volunteers who dedicate time and energy to supporting Holocaust survivors in ways that help them live with greater comfort and community. She has volunteered for 15 years with an organization, Immediate Help for Holocaust Survivors, in a key role of leading a team of Russian-speaking volunteers who focus on needs of Russian-speaking survivors. Team activities include organizing events during the Jewish holidays for survivors without family. She also connects with individual Holocaust survivors to provide physical and emotional aid: delivering food, furnishing rides to medical appointments, helping to navigate bureaucratic processes, offering trust and friendship,  and to their families as well. Her long-time dedication to volunteering — which she describes as “profoundly rewarding” — has brought other Mastercard colleagues to the organization. She  explains her motivation to give as fueled by “a deep respect for Holocaust survivors, who have endured unimaginable hardships,” and “to honor their resilience and ensure they live their remaining years with dignity.”

Sofia Menezes, Maria Leonor Morgado, Henrick Kakutalua, Sushmita Gogoi, Joao Bastos, Ricardo Moreira, Sofia Saldanha, Mariana Mourao, Isabela Longaray Fonseca, Mafalda Filipe, Sarah Andersen, Andreea Zachia, Sergio Rebelo, Clara Machado, Ana Goncalves, Nuro Carvalho and Hugo Oliveira, Lisbon, Portugal

“Little Entrepreneurship,” a program developed by this Lisbon team, has the distinction of receiving 12 nominations. The program, created over two months, launched in Lisbon public schools in the first half of 2024 to teach financial literacy and elements of entrepreneurship such as product creation, prototyping and problem solving. Inspired by “Shark Tank” and similar startup accelerators, the learning experience for kids includes presenting to mock investors. Also incorporated are activities in marketing and brand power, innovation process, business models, artificial intelligence, ESG/sustainability, and understanding emotional intelligence. Nine classes of 180 students participated, with an age range of 7 to 12 and inclusive of children who are deaf and nonverbal. Reviews have been extremely positive, with more lessons requested. “We’re eager to scale this impactful program,” says team leader Menezes. From the number of nominators, there’s no shortage of colleagues ready to volunteer.

Michael Capozzi, Miami, Florida

Last year, Capozzi, along with other members of his family, launched Fundación Chispas de Esperanza, with a mission to change lives through the power of sports and education. For the past two years, through the foundation, Capozzi organized the Café con Leche Summer Camp in the Dominican Republic, securing the necessary materials and managing the logistics and team of volunteers. The camp offered learning and recreational activities to more than 100 young people who are at risk and underserved, as well as involved many local community members from Santo Domingo as volunteers. Among positive outcomes, the camp experience “fostered a sense of belonging, contributing to the children’s growth and the community’s well-being,” he explains. Also recognizing this Force for Good effort is colleague Monica Chaparro Alba, who noted in her nomination that “Michael seeks to contribute his best to the company and to generate social impact.”

Ernesto Lares, Caracas, Venezuela

Hunger has terrible effects on kids’ ability to learn. Lares recognized the signs among children living in extreme poverty in the rural community of San Mateo, Venezuela. Some 80 children, many severely underweight, often skipped school or slept through it. They lacked food to fuel school performance, arriving without breakfast and not eating during the day. In response, beginning in 2017, he and his wife Claudia set up a free meal center in the San Mateo school, with a program name that pinpoints the heart of the need: “Barriga llena, mente alerta”—“Full belly, alert mind.” Funded by family and friends, this grassroots project has operated continuously for eight years —including during the worst of the COVID pandemic. Since the meal center’s start, the tally is over 200,000 free breakfasts and 150,000 free lunches served. Currently, some 120 students and 30 teachers are fed daily. “It’s still going strong in 2024!” says colleague Ana Larez, who nominated him  for his Force for Good service that’s feeding the lives and futures of so many San Mateo students.

Mariana Linares, Susana Cossio, Maria Antonia Correa and Maria Camila Muñoz, Bogota, Colombia

Fundación Con Las Manos — With Hands Foundation — gets to the essence of volunteering. A student organization of the University of Andes, this NPO enlists volunteers willing to give a hand to target the particular needs of fifth graders, with emphasis on math skills and building emotional intelligence and other social-emotional skills. These Bogota team members make the organization the focus of their personal volunteering, which also means committing Saturday mornings to service, when activities take place. Around 120 students participate, with classes that are tailored to groups. Volunteers help in creating this semi-personalized approach to learning that’s designed to be structured yet highly engaging. “Fundación Con Las Manos has significantly enhanced educational quality and personal development among fifth-grade students,” reports Muñoz. Math test scores are higher and students display better interpersonal skills, empathy and resilience — all emphasized in the social-emotional learning. The Mastercard team also demonstrates the strong community involvement that’s encouraged by the foundation, she adds, and which “creates a supportive network that extends beyond the classroom.”

Patty Baker, Nebraska

No One Dies Alone provides patients in hospice care with comforting assurance. Baker is a NODA volunteer in her Nebraska community, sitting with individuals who are dying. “I read or sing to them, or am just a silent presence,” she explains. Not all are alone and “often their family members need a respite. It’s a very important gift to the families and the patients.” Her deep compassion as a volunteer is also evident in her record of helping at assisted living facilities and delivering meals. The holiday season finds her ringing a bell for the Salvation Army — and has for 18 years. She is a big sister volunteer for Big Brothers, Big Sisters and a certified Red Cross volunteer. Starting this fall, she’s also contributing to Mastercard’s Pro Bono for Racial Justice program. What motivates such dedication to service? Among several powerful beliefs, “it's very important to me to give back,” she says, “and my hope is to inspire others to do so as well.” Clearly, Baker models many ways to give.

Allison Donnelly, Purchase, N.Y.

Grief and grieving are facts of life. It’s hard to imagine anyone who escapes them. But Donnelly supports those in grief at a particularly poignant age — children between the ages of three and six. She volunteers with the Den for Grieving Children in Fairfield County, Conn., where she’s a co-facilitator for the “Littles.” Significantly, she maintains her twice-monthly commitment year-round. That consistency is critical, she explains, for providing children with a trained volunteer who is a familiar face. “We offer a safe space with other kids working through the same emotions, but also a place to be silly, to talk through feelings in a playful and nurturing setting,” she says. As well, the help for young children frees teen and adult family members to seek their own Den counseling programs, supporting families to “begin the journey toward healing,” Donnelly says. “I want to live my values,” she says, “and they align with the Mastercard Way to be a force for good in the world.” It’s hard to imagine a bigger or kinder force than Donnelly for the Littles at the Den.

Joe Kaczorowski, Purchase, N.Y.

If Kaczorowski fulfills his volunteering “moon shot,” eventually there will be so many wishes made and granted in New York and Connecticut, and potentially beyond: A Mastercard–Make-a-Wish partnership could feel like a new cosmic force. With that grand plan in the background, he took the first leap this spring by leading more than 100 Purchase employees to a Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley information session. In May, he gathered some 60 colleagues for orientation and training. The promising result is a 20% growth of the group to 300 Hudson Valley volunteers, all fully onboarded. “We are now positioned to grant wishes to children with critical illnesses in our own community,” he  explains. He not only coordinates wish granters, he’s an active granter as well and his personal volunteering includes donating his musical talent to the organization’s gala. “I’m looking forward to getting more employees involved with Make-A-Wish,” he says, “and then expanding our efforts.” Given his personal goals to volunteer at least 100 hours a year and to “constantly look for ways to uplift others,” with Kaczorowski as pilot, it’s in the stars.

Marc Mitchell, O’Fallon, Mo.

Marc Mitchell’s passion as a volunteer is serving the special needs community in southern Illinois. From the last quarter of 2023 through the first half of 2024, Mitchell tallied over 100 volunteer hours. That total continues to grow with the ongoing nature of his commitments. He volunteers as president of the Riverbend Down Syndrome Association, which provides some 200 families with a range of resources for members from birth through old age. Along with advice and support for challenges such as navigating school programs, health care needs, guardianships and wills, RDSA sponsors holiday parties, outings to baseball games, swimming and bike-riding lessons, and camps. As a Special Olympics team coach, he leads 30 young adults in sports activities and mentors them in life skills. Taken together, it’s understandable that he describes his volunteering as “a lot of hard work.” But, as those who volunteer also know, “the smiles and laughter make it worthwhile and keep me going,” he adds. “It’s rewarding for me and for the individuals I serve, who feel accepted and a sense of belonging.”

Bruce Clarke, Liz Liang, Talia Marcus, Julia Faherty and Elise Tatum, Arlington, Va.

Affordable Homes & Communities is a nonprofit organization serving low-income families in the Arlington community. This team has made an AHC after-school tutoring and homework help program for students a staple of their personal volunteering for years. Collectively, they’ve worked weekly with about a dozen students in the last decade. AHC pairs volunteers with students — whenever possible, the same student each year until graduation — to build consistent support, strong connections and time for tutors to become role models and inspirations. To further that goal, the Mastercard team hosts field trips for juniors and seniors to Mastercard’s Arlington Tech Hub, for lessons on STEM careers. “By partnering with AHC, we're uplifting families that often don’t have deep support networks or opportunities for their children to learn about the breadth of career options available,” Liang says. Many of the students are the first in their family to attend college, and the team proudly notes that many of those students also choose to pursue STEM fields. Like the familiar phrase about the influence of a teacher, a volunteer’s impact can be deep and lasting as well.